The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1887-07-21
REVELATIONS BY MIR. DAVIS.
Efforts to Have him AssassInated and
Narrow Escapes.

REVELATIONS BY MIR. DAVIS.
Efforts to Have him AssassInated and
Narrow Escapes.
BALTIMORE, Nd, July 9, 1SS7.-The
Morning Herald of this city, will publish
six column contribution giving an &C.
count of recent important interviews
with Jefferson Davis. In these inter-
views Mr.. Davis, among many other
things, charges that the federal govern.
ment conspired during the late war to
have him assassinated. On this subject
Mr.. Davis says:
"While the Confederate government
was at Montgomery, Ala, in 1861, l
received an anonymous letter from Phil.
adelphia, the substance of which was
that the governor of Pennsylvania had
released noted desperate from the
penitentiary upon the condition that he
would go to Montgomery and assassinate
me, with the promise of reward of
100000 if he succeeded; that after re.
lease the man stated that he could not
probably succeed alone, and gave the
name of another convict of character
like his own with whose assistance he
felt sure of success, and that the second
convict was released to accompany the
first.
"About the time when this letter was
received l was going from my office 10
my residence. I observed a man squat
ting down by the brick wall, which was
about three feet high and upon which
the yard paling rested. I had gone few
steps before the position of this man SO
impressed me as induced me 10 60 and
look after him. Then walking back
toward the corner of the fence behind
which he was crouchipg, saw him look.
ing oyer the wall toward the gate through
which was expected to enter, but as !
reached the corner he jumred up and
ran toward the rear of the lot upon which
my residence stood, where there. was an
alley. I followed him rapidly, but when
1 had reached the alley he had disap.
peared. The only way in which he
could have escaped appeared to be
through gate which led into my stable.
Thither went and found my servant in
the loft throwing down hay, who, upon
inquiry, denied that anybody had come
there. he was servant I had raised,
| in whom, as I afterward learned, l bad a
misplaced confidence. Accepting his
statement as true and making fruitless
search elsewhere, the hunt was aband.
oned. But the warning received was not
forgotten. The Commissary General,
Colonel Northrop, my friend and old
army comrade, soon thereafter went with
me by rail to Richmond, and was on the
alert during this whole trip for the reap
pearance of the assassin.
81 sent the anonymous letter to Mr..
William B. Reed, of Philadelphia, ask
ing him to make such inquiry as would
verify or disprove its allegations. If he
ever replied I do not know, as communi.
cations were closed soon after that.
"While in Richmond it was my habit
to ride out often in the afternoon 10 visit
the defensive works we we're constructing
around the capital. On one occasion,
accompanied by my aid, Colonel William
Preston Johnston, I~had ridden across
Gillis Greek and was going up the bill
when rifle ball whizzed just behind me
| and in front of Colonel Johnston, who
was riding by my side little in the
rear. Warning him to seem as if moth.
| ing had occurred, we rode rapidly round
an unoccupied house, from which it was
thought the shot must have been fred,
and from which we could see distinctly
the ground over which any one must
have fed, if, after firing, he had taken
to flight. No one was visible. After
returning to the city in the evening COL
onel Johnston went.to the provost mar.
shall, who sent out some men more skill
| full than re had been to make further
search in the house.
"They found in the upper story some
plank out of the floor so that they could
be removed, and underneath that found
a man with a rife, who gave lame
account of himself as hiding there to
avoid CONSUMPTION. His story of being
employed at bakery in the city was
found upon inquiry unfounded. The
next morning I was notified that the
man, with liberal retainer in gold, had
employed g lawyer to sue out writ OF
habeas corpus. Aware that though the
circumstantial evidence might produce
moral conviction, that he would probably
be discharged in compliance with the
writ, and that the man was of proper
age and physical yigor for a soldier, l
directed him to be sent to Gen. Lee at
Petersburg, with an explanatory note,
and the hope that he would be put in the
front line to stop ball intended for a
better man. What became of him /
never learned, matters of large import
ance engrossing the attention of General
Lee, as well as myself.
"On another occasion, returning from
an afternoon ride with my aid, Colonel
Joseph R. Davis, just as we entered the
suburbs of Richmond shot was fired
from behind high garden wall at very
close range, but without effect. We
rode up to the wall, and by rising in our
stirrups, looked over into the garden, but
no person could beseen. 1t was twilight,
and the shrubbery afforded some means
of concealment and escape.
"There were many reasons before the
Dahlpren raid for believing that efforts